More than 130 members of parliament, across five countries in south-east Asia, have demanded that Myanmar be investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the most united condemnation from the region since the violence began against the Rohingya a year ago.

In a joint statement released by Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights, they called for the Myanmar military to be “brought to justice” for its “murderous operation in Rakhine State”.

Speaking on behalf of those 132 who had issued the statement, APHR member Charles Santiago, a Malaysian politician in the ruling coalition, said: “As Myanmar is clearly both unwilling and unable to investigate itself, we are now at a stage where the international community must step in to ensure accountability.”

He added: “I stand together with 131 of my elected peers in calling on the members of the UNSC to immediately refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC. Those in Myanmar responsible for these horrific crimes must be held to account; they cannot be left free to commit the same abuses again in the future.”

The united call comes just ahead of the first anniversary of the start of the military campaign of violence against the Rohingya in Rahkine state. Since that began 700,000 people have fled over the border to Bangladesh and 25,000 people have been killed, with villages razed to the ground and women sexually assaulted and raped. The violence has been described as ethnic cleansing by the UN; a charge Myanmar denies.

Asean, an intergovernmental organisation made up of ten countries in south-east Asia, has been accused of turning a blind eye to the violence over the past year, and has shied away from adopting a strong line on the crisis, even as boats of Rohingya refugees have washed up on the shores of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Source: The Guardian

BDST: 1550 HRS, AUG 24, 2018
SI